Protesters close Elbit's factories in UK

In this posting, 1) Electronic Intifada, 2) statement from Manchester Jews, 3) Live blog from Birmingham Mail. This is told and photographed largely in tweets.

Photo given out by activists shows protest on the roof of Elite KL, an Elbit-owned factory in Staffordshire, UK.

Protests close four factories owned by Israeli arms firm Elbit

By Hilary Aked, Electronic Intifada,
July 06, 2015

Protesters today shut down four different factories owned by Israel’s biggest arms company, Elbit Systems. The protests mark the one-year anniversary of the 2014 Israeli attack on Gaza.

Police issued an injunction against protests at one of three UK sites, a drone engine factory near Shenstone, Staffordshire. Despite this, a number of activists have been locked-on at UAV Engines Limited (UEL) since early this morning, blocking the road and entrance to the factory. Hundreds of Palestine solidarity campaigners are supporting them. Police have made at least 10 arrests.
[The fourth closed site is in Melbourne, Australia]

Also in the UK, production has been halted at Elbit’s Elite KL factory in Tamworth, Staffordshire. A third Elbit-owned factory called Instro Precision in Broadstairs, Kent, has also been shut down. Activists are protesting on the roof of both factories.

The activists accuse the company of complicity in Israel’s alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Amnesty International research into the UEL factory has indicated that components made in the factory, engines for armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones), were used in Israel’s 2008-2009 attack on Gaza. Code-named “Operation Cast Lead,” this attack killed 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza.

The UEL factory is known to export its drone engines to Israel.

The Shenstone and Broadstairs factories have been targeted by protesters before. At the height of Israel’s 51-day assault last year, nine protesters staged a sit-in on the roof of the UEL factory, closing it for two days in August before they were arrested. Rooftop protesters shut down the Instro Precision factory in Kent for a day in February, with no arrests made.

According to a police statement by the Shenstone factory’s general manager, seen by The Electronic Intifada in February, the protesters’ action cost the company £186,000 (almost $280,000) in lost revenue.

Yet charges of “aggravated trespass” were later dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service just hours before a deadline set by the court for the prosecution to release critical documents. The evidence to be disclosed related to arms export licences granted to UEL to send its hi-tech engines to Israel for use in the Hermes 450 drone.

The dropping of the case left Elbit factories in the UK open to direct action such as is taking place today. Adie Mormech, one of the Shenstone nine, said in February that it was a “green light for further action” by activists against the factory.

Solidarity with Palestinians

Elly Hassan, from London Palestine Action, one of the groups coordinating today’s “Block the Factory” actions, said: “These Israeli-owned factories are very much a part of Israel’s brutal regime of apartheid and settler-colonialism over the Palestinian people.”

“Israel was only able to massacre thousands in Gaza last summer because factories like these are allowed to operate and because governments such as the UK government continue to allow arms exports to Israel,” she explained.

“People have come here from all over the country to show their solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality and to demand that the UK government imposes a two-way military embargo on Israel,” she continued. ”We urge people that share our opposition to Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people to join the growing movement for a boycott of Israel.”

Last summer in Gaza Israel killed more than 2,200 Palestinians including 551 children. The 2014 assault, which Israel code named “Operation Protective Edge,” also left approximately 11,000 people injured, including 1,000 children left with permanent disabilities. An estimated 18,000 homes were destroyed or severely damaged, making 100,000 people homeless.

“Business as usual”

During the bombing, arms sales to Israel became a topic of intense political scrutiny in the UK. Conservative government minister Sayeeda Warsi quit her post in the cabinet, calling the UK government’s stance “morally indefensible.”

A report called “Arming Apartheid,” released last week by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, War on Want and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, found that fresh arms exports to Israel worth nearly £4 million ($6.2 million) – including components for drones – were approved by Britain within weeks of the attack.

These deals show that despite Israel’s alleged war crimes, the government’s attitude to the arms trade with Israel is “business as usual,” they said.

The action also marks ten years since the launch of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement that pressures Israel to comply with international law. In the UK, the movement is backed by major UK trade unions, the Green Party and the National Union of Students.

Recent successes include the announcement by Orange that it intends to leave the Israeli market and the news that foreign direct investment into Israel has dropped by almost 50 percent last year, partly due to the growth of the boycott movement.

We are British Jews proud to support today’s national demonstration against Israeli armsmaker Elbit

By Mondoweiss Editors
July 06, 2015

Statement from ‘Manchester Jewish action for Palestine’ in support of ‘Block the Factory’, a national demonstration on July 6th at Israeli arms factory ‘Elbit’.

We looked on in horror as Israel invaded Gaza last year. 51 days of carnage. We will never forget the 4 boys who were killed as they played football on the beach. Salem from Shajiyah who was shot as he searched for his friend in the rubble after an air strike.

Debate within the Jewish community was furious and heartbreaking. But as tensions rose in our own communities, we could never imagine what it was like in Gaza during those weeks.

By the end of the 51 day assault, over 2,200 Palestinians were dead, including 490 children. 73 Israelis were killed. 20 000 Palestinian homes were destroyed. 500 000 Palestinians were displaced. Gaza is still struggling to pick up the pieces.

This week will mark the 1st anniversary of the invasion. On July 6th people from all over the UK will descend on Elbit Systems, an arms factory near Birmingham which manufactures drones. Drones which ended up in Gaza, part of the high tech weapons offensive that decimated the 360km region in which 1.8 million Palestinians live, damaging or destroying 62 hospitals and clinics (killing 23 medical workers), 45 ambulances, 250 Palestinian schools and the only civilian power plant in Gaza.

Drones are ‘Unmanned aerial vehicles’ (UAVs) – aircraft either controlled by “pilots” from the ground or, increasingly, autonomously following a pre-programmed mission. While official claims are made for the accuracy of the strikes, there have been high numbers of civilian casualties besides the intended victim. Even in the latter cases, it is a death penalty imposed without a trial. Elbit is Israel’s largest arms producer. Its portfolio includes systems for military aircraft and helicopters, drones, armed remote control boats and land vehicles.

Elbit describes its drones as “the backbone” of Israel’s drone fleet. These drones were extensively used by the Israeli military in the 2014 attack, ‘Operation Protective Edge’. As British Jews we are horrified by the continued occupation of Palestinians and the UK’s complicity. On the 1st anniversary of the assault, campaigners and groups have called for a mass public action to demonstrate against ‘Elbit’ systems.

Throughout the devastating assault last summer, millions of people across the world were mobilised to take action. One year later, Gaza is not in the headlines anymore, but the people are still being systematically oppressed and denied fundamental human rights.

We are British Jews who are proud to support the national demonstration against the Israeli arms company Elbit systems on July 6th. We call on all people of conscience to stand up for justice and equality and to support the call from Palestinian civil society for boycott, divestment and sanctions.

As British Jews we say never again, for anyone.

#StopArmingIsrael

For more information see:

Facebook: Manchester Jewish Action for Palestine

Campaign Against Arms Trade
:
Block The Factory:

Corporate Watch Elbit Systems

Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS:

End the two way arms trades between Israel and the UK:

Activists form a human barrier across Lynn Lane, Shenstone, outside the UAV factory.

Live: Activists shut down Staffordshire drone factory

By Gary Young, Birmingham Mail
July 06, 2015

Protesters targeting a factory accused of making drones exported to Israel said they had shut it down this morning (Monday July 6).

Activists have targeted the UAV Engines plant at Shenstone, near Lichfield. They tweeted pictures showing campaigners lying in the road outside the premises.

The same factory was occupied in a two-day protest last August.

9:05 am Our reporter Jane Tyler is at the scene.

She reports that the same factory was occupied in a two-day protest last August.

It was targeted again to mark the first anniversary of what the Block the Factory organisation called Israel’s “attack” on Gaza.

The LPA said UAV was a “wholly-owned subsidiary” of Israeli biggest arms company Elbit Systems.

Spokeswoman Elly Hassan said:

Not only has the UK government done nothing to stop Israel massacring Palestinians, it actually provides Israel with enormous diplomatic, financial and military support.

We believe that by allowing this factory to manufacture and sell parts for drones – which we know are going to Israel – the UK government is colluding in Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza and beyond.

People are coming from all over the country to the action to demand the UK stops arming Israel.

We will be transforming the space around the arms factory, converting it from a site of destruction into a fun, creative and child-friendly environment – a space that meets our needs and not the needs of Israeli and multinational corporations that export death for profit.

9:06 am Jane Tyler

A second site in Tamworth was also closed in what appeared to be a linked strike.

Elite KL makes air conditioning units for tanks and is owned by Elbit, the Israeli defence company behind the Hermes drone.

Police closed access to the factory and the car park of a neighbouring unit this morning after around eight protesters scaled the roof.

This is Adie Mormech, one of three Gaza protesters at Shenstone who has formed a human blockade.

Protesters at Shenstone have vowed to stay lying in a human blockade all day.

Members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign have taken over the road which links both sides of the village’s train station – blocking it completely for commuters and locals.

Three of the protestors have formed a human blockade by binding themselves together in the shape of a human crucifix.

9:22 am.  The protesters have tied their arms together using gaffer tape and metal netting.
One of them, who only gave her name as Norma from Manchester, said:

We’ll stay here all day, as long as it takes to make our point.

If it rains then we’ll stay – rain us nothing compared to what the people of Gaza are going through with the drones.”

9:28 am, Adie Mormech, one of the protesters, said the demonstration was organized by the Manchester branch [of the PSC] and so far around 50 people were there with many more expected during the day.

Here are some tweets from the protesters:

It looks like more are on the way…

War on Want
‏@WarOnWant
Good morning justice warriors! We’re on a coach from London to Shenstone to @blockthefactory #StopArmingIsrael

There is more than one site being blockaded today

Block the Factory @blockthefactory
Kites not drones! Yes @ElbitSystemsLtd – we’re back & we’ve shut you down again. #Blockthefactory Kent
4:50 AM – 6 Jul 2015

A video arrives from WACA (@akaWACA Whistleblowers, Activists and Citizens Alliance ‘from us blockading #ElbitSystems in Australia #BlockTheFactory’.